help needed 3200!

mazamartin

New Member
Messages
20
I wonder if any one can shed any light on this issue? have just bought a 3200 gta with low miles of 44k but engine oil is defiantly coffee coloured on draining,the car has been stood outside although under cover unused for 5 1/2 years other than an occasional start up from the previous owner, do you think its possible that its condensation or head gasket? there is absolutely no oil in water reservoir ,it keeps good water temp from what i,m seeing while running although as yet not driving on road ,has good oil pressure, i will decant oil to establish how many liters have come out to work out how much water/condensation is in it minus the 7 liters of oil that should be in there, does any one know if this type of engine has any type of water cooled oil cooler/heat exchanger where water could get into oil or possibly go porous (like those on vw/audis?) I am going to flush it through with some cheaper fully synthetic oil and oil filter prior to using selenia 10/60 and genuine maserati parts to see if it retains the colour it should and monitor water level any thoughts would be greatly appreciated.
 

CatmanV2

Member
Messages
48,539
I'd go with condensation and hope.

Lots of good advice along soon. Welcome to the madness!

C
 

CatmanV2

Member
Messages
48,539
admiring your optimism ,many thanks
Seriously, I don't think I've heard of a 3200 head gasket failure. Make sure you get some fresh oil in it, but any car (especially a 3200) left sitting for that long is going to be an interesting journey ;)

C
 

Zep

Moderator
Messages
9,110
I would suggest, if you are concerned, that you get a combustion leak tester. These test the gases coming from the cooling header tank, using a chemical which changes colour in the presence of CO2 from combustion.

As you know, moisture in the oil could be from two sources and the other concern will be internal corrosion.

Of course you need to do all the other checks and particularly the endfloat on the crankshaft before significant use to make sure you don’t have a problem there.
 

mazamartin

New Member
Messages
20
lol! yep its gonna be an interesting journey for sure ! to be honest i paid peanuts for it with a gearbox leak/drive issue which turned out to be a gasket on the tail end of the box and the cause of which the securing nut on drive shaft coming loose from gearbox making a vibration causing its failure,its my second 3200 after selling my first car same colour years ago when quite new and have been regretting it ever since,as this car had a good pedigree service wise and all docs/ invoices of 22k and all keys present i just couldn,t say no ( call me a gluten for punishment) i,m hoping not to regret my decision already!
 

allandwf

Member
Messages
10,958
Change it, flush it a couple of times with cheap stuff, then if it stays clear, hopefully it will, put decent stuff in and see how it goes. I had an Alfa V6 that had oil like milky coffee, it was head gasket, had no oil in expansion tank either. Fingers crossed for you.
 

mazamartin

New Member
Messages
20
hi Zep there is no pressurising of the coolant system indicating combustion gasses present but will do a sniff test as a matter of precaution as regards the end float i was aware that only affected the manual versions due to the clutch throw this is an automatic with low miles
upon start up there is a small amount of steam/white smoke from cats as you would expect for a min or so but nothing untoward
as the car was parked up shortly after a service judging by the mot history the oil would have been clean and clear less chance for carbon deposits to change its colour i,m hoping that a small amount of condensation would be enough to discolour it to what i would call a mild latte colour
 

2b1ask1

Special case
Messages
20,220
As Allan says, flush it with cheap stuff a couple of times and then some quality to run it for a while, I'd recommend changing the filter on the first and last changes as a minimum. Modern oils really dont sit well for long time and 5 1/2 years is just that!

Brave man, It will likely test your patience! Good luck & welcome to the madness...
 

safrane

Member
Messages
16,746
I would stop starting it untill all the belts and rubbers have been changed after such a long lay up.
 

Zep

Moderator
Messages
9,110
hi Zep there is no pressurising of the coolant system indicating combustion gasses present but will do a sniff test as a matter of precaution as regards the end float i was aware that only affected the manual versions due to the clutch throw this is an automatic with low miles
upon start up there is a small amount of steam/white smoke from cats as you would expect for a min or so but nothing untoward
as the car was parked up shortly after a service judging by the mot history the oil would have been clean and clear less chance for carbon deposits to change its colour i,m hoping that a small amount of condensation would be enough to discolour it to what i would call a mild latte colour

I understand that endfloat isn’t just a manual only issue, but it is exacerbated by the pull clutch design. Your thoughts on the oil are logical, so you are probably right about the condensation, we will keep our fingers crossed for you!
 

davy83

Member
Messages
2,809
I suspect it is likely to be a combination of rust and condensation, I may be wrong and no doubt some one will come along and corect me. But to my mind, when the car is run regularly the oil soaks all of the oily bits and so they are never exposed to the air. with over 5 years some steel parts that are normally oil flushed will have sat in air and got rusty with the air and condensation, and so you will get brown/milky oil. its not a good thing having rust running around inside the engine!! if you are lucky just flushing it with a few oil changes should clear it. the only way to be sure would be to strip the whole engine down so i suspect unless you are a real glutton for punishment, flush it out and run it, see how it goes.
 

mazamartin

New Member
Messages
20
hi just an update on progress of the newly purchased 3200gt ,changed oil in it now for some fully synthetic 5 /40w for flushing out along with stp engine flush and replaced oil filter, started car up on ramp and and let engine run for a few hours circulating the flushing oil and hey presto all is good and clear! prior to filling with correct selenia 10/60w so it appears to be condensation in the original oil after all that has turned its colour to coffee along with the occasional short starting/and running over its layup period . After checking the car over it keeps good water level temp, oil pressure & combustion leak tester didnt change colour, cylinder compressions are all equal so all looks good! It has to be said i was a little worried at first that it would be a head gasket and might have been one of the underlying reasons why the previous owner laid it up for so long? I,d like to say a big thanks to all that have given advise on this situation and happy motoring
 

Zep

Moderator
Messages
9,110
hi just an update on progress of the newly purchased 3200gt ,changed oil in it now for some fully synthetic 5 /40w for flushing out along with stp engine flush and replaced oil filter, started car up on ramp and and let engine run for a few hours circulating the flushing oil and hey presto all is good and clear! prior to filling with correct selenia 10/60w so it appears to be condensation in the original oil after all that has turned its colour to coffee along with the occasional short starting/and running over its layup period . After checking the car over it keeps good water level temp, oil pressure & combustion leak tester didnt change colour, cylinder compressions are all equal so all looks good! It has to be said i was a little worried at first that it would be a head gasket and might have been one of the underlying reasons why the previous owner laid it up for so long? I,d like to say a big thanks to all that have given advise on this situation and happy motoring

That is brilliant news - awesome! :D